British MPs have condemned practices used by undercover police, including sleeping with those they were investigating and using dead infants’ names for their covert identity. The MPs have called for legislation to regulate undercover work.

The UK House of Commons held a Home Affairs Select Committee
probe into a series of scandals involving undercover police
officers. In an interim reportpublished on Friday, the
committee addressed three separate issues.

First: Undercover officers
became intimate with those they were investigating. Second: The
practice of using the names of dead infants to create cover
identities for the officers. And last, but not least: MPs
criticized the overall system of undercover police work.

Unauthorized, but ‘almost
inevitable’ sex

The MPs highlighted several
cases in which undercover officers infiltrated various activist
groups and initiated long-term intimate relationships with members
of those groups. The affairs were then broken off when the agents
finished their work. Some incidents reviewed by the commission
dated as far back as the 1980s.

Several of the women are now
claiming damages over the incidents. While MPs refrained from
commenting on the legality of the officers’ actions, “the
terrible impact on the lives of those women who had relationships
with undercover officers is beyond doubt,” they said, adding
that the officers “were not unaffected” either.

“There is an alarming
degree of inconsistency in the views of Ministers and senior police
officers about the limits of what may and may not be lawfully
authorized,” the report said. Officials offered MPs different
views on whether such relationships were justified, could be
prevented or should be banned outright. One official said such
closeness “could almost be inevitable” is some
cases.

One practical consideration,
former Minister for Policing Nick Herbert explained, is that an
explicit ban on such intimacy “would provide a ready-made test
for the targeted criminal group to find out whether an undercover
officer was deployed among them.” However, there must be strict
rules for officers becoming intimate with their targets, the MPs
said.

“We do not believe that officers should enter into intimate,
physical sexual relationships while using their false identities
undercover without clear, prior authorization, which should only be
given in the most exceptional circumstances,” the report
said.

The report outlined that it is clearly unacceptable to conceive
a child as result of such relationships, which reportedly happened
to one of the officers. “This must never be allowed to happen
again,” the MPs said.

‘Ghoulish and
disrespectful’

Another dubious practice
condemned by the MPs was the use of the names of dead infants to
create aliases for undercover agents. The practice was “ghoulish
and disrespectful,” and potentially dangerous to the bereaved
families, they said.

One witness told the
commission how she found the home address of the people she
believed to be the parents of her missing partner, who was an
undercover officer using a fake name. Her intention was not
malevolent, but “it is easy to see how officers infiltrating
serious, organized criminal and terrorist gangs using the
identities of real people could pose a significant risk to the
living relatives of those people,” the report
stressed.

“The families who have
been affected by this deserve an explanation and a full and
unambiguous apology from the forces concerned,” the commission
continued. “We would also welcome a clear statement from the
Home Secretary that this practice will never be followed in
future.”

The Metropolitan Police is
currently conducting an investigation into the use of dead infants’
names. To the shock of the commission, the practice
was “apparently a
surprise to senior officers and it is vital that the investigation
establish quickly how high up the chain of command this practice
was sanctioned,”the report
said.

The commission pledged to
request updates on the progress of the probe every three months,
including the remaining amount of work, costs, disciplinary
proceedings, arrests made, and the families involved being
identified and informed. The probe should be concluded by the end
of 2013, and the results will be published on the commission’s
website every three months.

“It cannot be sufficiently
emphasized that using the identities of dead children was not only
abhorrent, but reflects badly on the police. It must never occur
again,” the MPs said.

Reform pending

During the investigation, the
MPs found that “standards in undercover operations are
jeopardized by lack of clear lines of responsibility between… the
different forces and units involved.” They cite discrepancies
in training, tactics and review, and called for the establishment
of a coherent set of operational instructions.

Of particular concern for the
commission was the weak oversight for undercover agents who were
gathering intelligence, and how there was no expectation that the
evidence gathered must stand up in court.

The MPs argued that
undercover police activity should be limited to genuine threats to
public safety or national security. They also expressed doubts over
the practice of infiltrating activist groups engaged in peaceful
protest in the hopes of reaching more radical groups.

The report said that a
compelling case exists for a fundamental review of the legislative
framework governing undercover policing, including 2000’s
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.

“We recommend that the
Government commit to the publication of a Green Paper on the
regulation of investigatory powers before the end of this
Parliament, with a view to publishing draft legislation in the
Session after the next general election,” the report
said.